I've been investing $100 a month for my entire adult life. I'm 60 years old and on track to retire. My brother who has a PhD makes triple what I do and is one paycheck away from being homeless. No, I'm not lazy.

When I graduated high school we were barely scraping by. I got a full ride to college, but I still had to work to pay for gas for my commute, pay for my books, pay for my food, and everything else. So, I didn't exactly have thousands of dollars to put into a Roth right out of high school, but I knew I needed to start saving. So I put $100 a month into a Roth. I did that through college, and I didn't miss it. After I graduated college I got a great job, tripled my income, and started putting away 5% of my income into my Roth. Now I'm 60 and on track to retire. I would love to retire earlier, but I'm in good health and don't have any reason to. <br><br>I did the same thing with my 401k. I put $100 a month into it out of high school. I put $100 a month into it my entire time in college. When I got my job I put 5% into it. My company was big on matching and they matched my first 5% 2:1 and matched my next 5% 1:1. I worked my way up to contributing 20% and I was making great money by the time I was done.<br><br>My brother didn't do the same. He went to college, dropped out, and then went back to college. When he graduated, he went on to get a PhD in the same thing he majored in. After he finished his PhD, he went on to do a fellowship in the same area, in a different city. He's 60 now and he's financially struggling to the point where he might lose his house. <br><br>No, I'm not lazy. I have been working my way up the corporate ladder since I was 20. I have been working 11-12 hour days since before I was 25. I have been working my way up the corporate ladder at 2 different corporations for 40 years. I have been putting in 110% effort and doing anything I could to advance my career, because I want to retire. I want to go on vacation, I want to buy my dream car, I want to go fishing, I want to do all the things. <br><br>My brother didn't do that. After he got his PhD, he got an entry level job at a non-profit. He was making about $40,000 a year at that time. He was on unemployment for 2 years. He then went to the same company he was at before his fellowship. When COVID hit, he was told he was too senior to be paid. They let him keep his medical insurance. He got unemployment for the minimum amount, which was $300 a month. He begged and pleaded to keep his job, but he didn't have a job when COVID hit. The non-profit that employed him wasn't operating during COVID. <br><br>He was so financially unstable during COVID that he had to move in with my parents. He had no choice but to move in with them because they were the only family he had nearby. He didn't want to move in with my parents. <br><br>I got my PhD in my field. I didn't go into academia. I went straight into the workforce. I don't mind working. I hate how academia treats their employees. I hate how academia pays their employees. I hate how academia forces their employees to meddle in the drama related to their employees. I hate that academia doesn't pay for education. I hate that academia doesn't have 401k matching. I hate that academia doesn't give health insurance to their employees. I hate that academia doesn't offer paid time off to their employees. I hate that academia doesn't offer sick days to their employees. I hate that academia doesn't offer disability insurance. I hate that academia doesn't offer AD&D insurance. I hate that academia doesn't offer life insurance. I hate the hiring process academia uses. I hate that academia only hires PhDs. I hate that academia refuses to promote PhDs to higher positions in academia. <br><br>I know that I'm not lazy for choosing to work in the workforce rather than academia.